This digital specialist coordinates SEED, a PhD program supported by the European Union. The program emphasizes interdisciplinarity and proximity to industry.
With SEED, training a new generation of researchers
Mario Südholt is an associate professor in the Department of Automation, Production Engineering and Computer Science (DAPI), and heads up a doctoral program “like no other” at IMT Atlantique: Cofund SEED (Societal, Energy, Environmental, industrial and Digital transitions) brings together some forty PhD students working on a wide variety of subjects, often overlapping, and all at the heart of the major transitions dear to the school. "Assistance to remote-controlled operations in space" and "contracts to ensure the correctness of learning algorithms using neural networks" are just some of the topics covered by current theses.
For Mario Südholt, SEED aims to do nothing less than "train a new generation of researchers", capable of meeting the challenges of today's major transitions. "This program goes far beyond a simple doctorate", insists Mario Südholt. "Our students are supervised by top-flight associate professors, and benefit from a very broad and diversified training program, particularly in terms of soft skills and international openness. They acquire a range of skills that make SEED a unique program. And they are highly appreciated by companies today."
Manufacturers involved in this European collaborative project
As soon as the program was launched in September 2024, some forty manufacturers became involved or expressed an interest. Veolia, for example, is planning to welcome 2 PhD students. A sign of this interest is that "the salaries of SEED PhD students are a little higher than average", says Mario Südholt.
Applicants are equally enthusiastic: at the start-up, SEED received some 250 applications for around twenty thesis topics. And the success of the second class has not waned...
The very architecture of the program reflects two priorities: proximity to the business world, and an international dimension. "All theses are prepared in conjunction with an industrial partner, with students spending between 3 and 9 months in a company", emphasizes Mario Südholt. "An extended stay abroad (3 to 12 months) is also planned, with an academic or industrial partner."
Scheduled to run for five years, Cofund SEED has been selected from a number of other programs as a European collaborative project. SEED has a budget of 8 million euros, half of which is funded by the EU. The program is supported by two IMT Atlantique doctoral institutes, SPIN (Digital and Engineering Sciences) and 3MG (Matières, molécules et matériaux), as well as a network of some fifty academic partners.
